Black Americas Network

Translocal Sounds

Music has been a core element for community building, political expression and transnational communication in the Black Americas. Even when they do not contain explicit political messages, afro-diasporic genres like Jazz, Mambo, Ska, Blues, Son, Reggae, Salsa, Calypso, Soul, Latin Boogaloo, Dub, Samba, Cumbia, Forró, Candombe, Funk, Reggaetón, Champeta, HipHop, and BaileFunk have been crucial in articulating counter-hegemonic visions of the black experience in the Americas. The mobility of these sounds as well as practices of creative appropriation and sampling helped to forge networks of solidarity and transnational alliances between formerly separated black communities throughout the Western hemisphere. In this section, musicians, DJs, and performers who represent the diversity of black popular music in the Americas share their work.